ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the front matter or paratextual section and the essential for understanding how the books creators made use of the prevailing conventions of design and structure to communicate ideas and messages to readers and users. The proemial sections of Scappi's Opera provide an extraordinary window into the aspirations of the author, the role of the publishers, and the evolving state of food knowledge in early modern Italy. Scappi also invokes malevolent enemies of the common good in the dedication, a phrase that points to an awareness of a political and philosophical vocabulary that transcends the genre of recipe or household books in a surprising way. A note to readers follows the author's dedication, its stated goal to tell the reader why he or she should read the book. Following the Tramezzino note to readers, there is an engraved portrait of Scappi himself.
